All About Thanksgiving

Can you believe it? Thanksgiving is around the corner! We can already smell the turkey, gravy, sweet potatoes, pie and more pie. Did we say pie yet? As we enter the holiday season into Thanksgiving, one of the best gifts of all is –your time. It’s priceless, cherished, and irreplaceable. This year, many folks may not be able to celebrate with their loved ones, so time is that much more valuable.

How can we fill our bellies, spend time with our loved ones AND best yet, work on SPEECH and LANGUAGE skills? Family pie making! Although there are so many skills you can target while making your favorite recipe, we’re going to focus on a few areas you can address as you make your favorite family pie or Thanksgiving dish.

Articulation – target your child’s articulation sounds in multiple positions and model!

·       /p/: pie, pan, pat, pick, peel, potato, pumpkin, pilgrim, parade, pecan, pots, apple, nap, recipe

·       /b/: berry, bird, butter, bake, bite, bacon

·       /m/: mom, make, mash, mix, milk, ham, home, meal, marshmallow, meat, America

·       /d/: dad, dessert, delicate, dinner, dish

·       /g/: gobble, go, give

·       /k/: corn, cake, cook, carve, candy

·       Blends:  friends, flour, bread, blossom, blend, cream, cranberries, dry, drumstick, gravy, gratitude, cranberries, plate, sleep, smell, small, sprinkle, sweet, stir, stuffing, taste, treat, tradition

Language – directions, prepositions, pronouns, sentence expansion, descriptions, vocabulary, etc.!

·       Regular past tense verbs: cooked, baked, wanted, opened, poured

·       Irregular past tense verbs: made, drank, ate, gave, cut, froze, held, read, bought

·       Descriptions: discuss the size, shape, color, parts, taste, texture, smell

·       Word retrieval: name as many pie ingredients as you can, name as many other sweet treats as you can, name as many Thanksgiving foods as you can, name the other holidays as fast as you can

·       Sequencing: follow the steps of your recipe in order (first, then, next!)

·       Story telling: make up a story with a pie in it

Social – social stories, greetings, humor, conversations, perspective taking, etc.!

·       Questions: “What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish?” “Do you like pie?”

·       Comments: “yum,” “that sounds great,” “yuck”

·       Talk about your favorite Thanksgiving memories and traditions

·       Take turns mixing and filling ingredients

·       Discuss emotions when you’re making your pie – “I’m so excited to eat the apple pie!” 

·       Offer pieces of pie to the rest of the family!